October 15 postgame quotes: John Stevens

On Darcy Kuemper’s Kings debut:
I was really happy for him. It’s a tough spot for a goalie when you don’t get a chance to play games all the time and you’ve got to keep your game sharp in practice. We played him the last game in China there and I thought he was terrific. We knew we were going to have to count on him, so Billy and I sat down when we started the segment and just thought this would be a good spot to get him in, and he was great. He was ready to play, he made some key saves at key times and obviously we’re excited for him to get his first win. You need your back-up goalie to win games for you, and it was great to see him get a win tonight.

On the impact of another strong special teams performance:
Well, it wasn’t that long ago that we were talking about our power play and lack of production, and we meant what we said. We thought we were doing a lot of good things on our power play. We were getting momentum gains from our power play, but obviously the last two games it has been a big factor in producing some offense for us, and had a play at the end with two great players – Drew and Kopi. Drew just seemed like he ramped up his intensity tonight. When the game got bigger, he got better. He’s matched up against a great player in Tavares and just getting excited watching him, because he gets excited for those match-ups. He wants to make a difference, and he was a difference maker tonight.

On containing a very good forward group:
You’re exactly right. We looked at their lineup going into the game. They’ve got a deep group of forwards. Their left side’s got a lot of size and really gets in on the forecheck and they’ve got a lot of skill up and down their lineup. It just seems like they’re built that way. Their left side of defense is big and heavy, and their right side has really got puck movers. They really came at us to start the second period. I didn’t think we were ready for their forecheck and got on our heels a little bit. I just thought the commitment to get back and dig in a little bit was good for us. We talked a lot about puck battles because we didn’t like the way we started the last game, and I thought it was much better tonight, and I thought we did a really good job with our sticks tonight. I thought we got a lot of sticks on pucks tonight. Pucks that might have had a chance to get to our net were deflected out of harm’s way, and good checking teams obviously have to do that. But those are the things that I liked.

On the play from Oscar Fantenberg and Christian Folin:
They’ve been good for us, especially with Marty being out. I thought maybe not as good at the end of the game there tonight when it got ramped up a little bit, but they’re good players. They’re both a little bit older. They compete hard. I think that’s been the big adjustment, just how hard it is to compete on a nightly basis, especially when the schedule gets ramped up. But Foles, he’s a big, assertive guy. He’s got good puck skills. I think you’re going to see more to Oscar in terms of offense. I think his puck skills and his ability to get involved offensively has got some really good upside, and he’s going to be a solid defender, so they’ve both been good additions to our hockey team.

On the influence Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown have had on the team’s start:
I think if you look at our leadership group, which is our captains plus Brownie and Quickie, I think they’ve been big time leaders of our hockey team through training camp and to start the season. We go as they go, and you always want your best players being your best players. We could talk about every one of them. I think they’ve been tremendous on both sides of the puck. It’s nice to see Kopi and Brownie get off to good starts offensively. It’s important to them because they want to help the team win. It’s not important to them for any other reason, but they’re playing the game the right way and they’re representing the identity of the hockey team that we want to have, and it’s great to see.

-Lead photo via Adam Pantozzi/NHLI